The Court of Appeal in Simantob v Shavleyan [2019] EWCA Civ 1105 has held that an unmeritorious defence was good consideration for the variation of a settlement agreement, which resulted in payment to the creditor of a lesser sum than the debt due.… Continue Reading
In The Federal Republic of Nigeria v JP Morgan Chase Bank, NA [2019] EWHC 347 (Comm), the High Court dismissed an interim application by the Defendant, JP Morgan Chase Bank (“JP Morgan“), for reverse summary judgment, finding that JP Morgan owed a Quincecare duty of care to the Claimant.… Continue Reading
Where a claimant has already issued related Court proceedings in another jurisdiction, the English Court is unlikely to be the appropriate forum for the trial of a claim, according to the recent High Court decision in Punjab National Bank (International) Ltd v Srinivasan and others [2019] UKHC 89 (Ch).… Continue Reading
A Norwich Pharmacal Order (“NPO“) forces a third party to disclose documents or information to an applicant. These Court orders are typically used to identify a proper defendant to a claim or to get information to enable someone to set out their case in Court documents. The respondent to an NPO application is generally not the defendant to … Continue Reading
The Upper Tribunal, the independent Court that hears appeals from FCA decisions, last week upheld the regulator’s decision to fine Stewart Ford, the former CEO of Keydata Investment Services Limited, a huge £76million (the largest FCA fine on an individual) and ban him from working in the financial services industry. The Tribunal decided that the FCA had been correct to ban and fine … Continue Reading
The recent High Court decision in Caribonum Pension Trustee Limited v Pelikan Hardcopy Production AG [2018] EWHC 2321 (Ch) will provide some comfort for pension plan trustees owed money by insolvent sponsoring employers by allowing trustees to pursue guarantors within the same group for those debts. What was contended to be an abuse of Court process … Continue Reading
Last week the Court of Appeal (The Director of the SFO v Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 2006) reversed the High Court’s controversial and troubling decision from 2017 that concerned the extent to which litigation privilege could apply to documents generated in the context of internal investigations. ENRC successfully argued that legal professional … Continue Reading
The Court of Appeal in Deutsche Bank AG v Comune di Savona [2018] EWCA 1740 has clarified the position as regards competing jurisdiction clauses, particularly when considering swaps and derivatives and The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) model agreements.… Continue Reading
The Court of Appeal decision in Mr Nobu Su v Clarksons Platou Futures Limited and another [2018] EWCA Civ 1115 from earlier this month concerns the interpretation and application of s14A of the Limitation Act 1980 (“s14A”) and when a claimant is deemed to have ‘knowledge’ of the negligence in order to extend the limitation … Continue Reading
The Commercial Court has recently handed down its judgment in the case of Midtown Acquisitions LP v Essar Global Fund Limited and Others [2018] EWHC 789. The decision provides useful guidance on whther “first past the post” is really a legal principle when it comes to charging orders.… Continue Reading
The Court of Appeal recently heard an appeal from the Central London County Court, in which a judgment debtor (“L”) appealed a decision than an application to pay a judgment debt by instalments had been refused – Diana Loson v Brett Stack, Newlyn Plc [2018] EWCA Civ 803.… Continue Reading
The previous four episodes of the Mastercard saga (as detailed in our previous blog posts) focussed on a number of legal battles between Mastercard and both consumers and retailers. These disputes have centred on Mastercard’s alleged “uncompetitive” interchange fees and restrictive rules on cross-border acquiring. The latest claim by retailers follows a class action brought on … Continue Reading
The Court has recently handed down judgment in Abdullah and others v Credit Suisse (UK) Limited and Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited, a case concerning the suitability of structured product sales .… Continue Reading
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Taurus Petroleum Ltd (Appellant) v State Oil Marketing Company of the Ministry of Oil, Republic of Iraq (Respondent) [2017] clarifies where a debt is situated under a letter of credit (“LoC”).… Continue Reading
After a 38 day trial, Mrs Justice Asplin handed down a 187 page judgment just before Christmas in the long-running Property Alliance Group Ltd v The Royal Bank of Scotland plc case. She rejected claims of mis-selling, breach of good faith obligations and misrepresentations associated with LIBOR. Property Alliance Group sued RBS over four interest … Continue Reading
As previously reported on this blog, April saw two important judgments in the Titan and Windermere Class X cases. Those decisions have implications for both “CMBS 1.0” structures that include Class X notes in them, and for the wider financial markets in terms of how the courts are approaching disputes over the interpretation of finance … Continue Reading
In an April 2016 Financial List decision by Mrs Justice Asplin in Diane & Michael Hockin and Lonwest Ltd v Royal Bank of Scotland plc and National Westminster Bank plc [2016] EWHC 925 (Ch), the Bank unsuccessfully applied for strike out of parts of the mis-selling claim issued against them by the Claimants. The Claimants had … Continue Reading
As regular readers will know, April brought two big judgments for the CMBS and structured finance markets in the Windermere VII CMBS and Titan Europe CMBS Class X cases. Now that the dust has settled, it is worth stepping back and looking at the wider perspective of what the decisions mean for future deals, the prospects … Continue Reading
Last Thursday (28 January 2016) the Chancellor of the High Court, Sir Terence Etherton, ordered that Property Alliance Group’s ongoing £89 million claim against the Royal Bank of Scotland should be transferred to the Financial List. The case relates to allegations of mis-selling of four interest rate swaps, and includes claims that the swaps should be … Continue Reading
The Financial List arrives Coinciding with the new court term, we now have a dedicated court established exclusively to hear specialist financial markets disputes. We wrote about the proposals for this Financial List back in June and July. Now that it has opened, what can we expect? New procedures and forms The nuts and bolts … Continue Reading
In June I wrote about proposals for the High Court in London to set up a specialist “Financial List” for complex finance cases. Now the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, has confirmed in a recent Mansion House speech that the initiative will go ahead. A finance disputes hub In announcing the Financial List, Lord Thomas … Continue Reading
London has for many years been a hub for resolving financial markets disputes. But the High Court in London is facing increasing competition from rivals like the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts, and initiatives to persuade financial institutions to arbitrate their disputes. These competitors are putting pressure on the English courts to up their game … Continue Reading
